The Girl Next Door

~33~

"You see right through me..."

Onika Maraj

As I sleep, the sound of raggaeton creeps into my dreamless state.

My eyes slowly open to the sun-filled room. The smell of food tickles my nostrils and I can't stop my mouth from watering.

I lift my face from the pillow and that's when all the pain is registered in my body.

"Fuck!" I cry out, rolling over on my back as my breathing becomes labored. I place my arms above my head to try to calm my breathing but it fails.

There is a sharp pain in the lower part of my stomach that brings tears into my eyes and before I know it, I'm crying again.

Images and clips of last night replay in my head. The images won't disappear. The clips won't pause. The pain won't go away. His drunken, angry voice in my ear. Everything still haunts me.

In the midst of my sobbing, I can feel Robyn's arm around my waist and her voice in my ear.

"Baybeh gyal... calm down."

And at those triggering words, I can feel myself blackout. A misty white color clouds my vision as I'm taking back to last night.

~Flashback~

"What you gonna do baby girl?" Robert asks, pushing his manhood into me.

I let out a silent cry as the pressure between my legs increases, making my body seem like it's on fire. Robert chuckles and wraps his hand around my neck.

"You wanna hit me, baby girl?" He asks, an evil smile crossing his face. I close my eyes to avoid looking at his face. I want so bad to hit him. To kill him even. But my body isn't as responsive as I want it to be.

"Come on," Robert says, pushing all the way into me.

I scream in pain as my body seems to be stretching to accommodate him. A pain starts in my lower stomach and no matter how hard I squeeze my eyes shut, it won't go away. It's too much. But I can't distract myself from it. I have to go through every excruciatingly painful second.

"Please... " I beg, becoming short of breath from panic. I raise a weak arm and try to hold him body in place but he obviously has different plans as he begins thrusting into me full force.

"S-stop!" I scream, balling my fists up. I begin hitting him weakly but it does no justice.

"Stop!"

~ Present ~

"Stop! Nika... C-calm down!" Robyn's voice says, pulling me back into consciousness.

It takes a moment for me to fully measure where I am at. The first thing that I notice is Robyn's hands are clamped over my wrists. Looking down at her wrists, I can see red scratches on them, some deep with blood in between the split skin.

I then notice that I'm in top of her and we're on the floor of her bedroom. Finally, I notice the scratches on Robyn's face and her lip that's swelling up.

I blink my tear filled eyes and relax my tense body. Robyn let's go of my wrists and pulls me down to her, gathering me in a hug. As I lie there, I listen to her rapidly beating heart. The whole action confused me, to be honest. I would've expected her to hit me back or yelled at me or something. Why is she so nice even after all that happened?

As if reading my mind, Robyn speaks,"I understand..."

Realization hits me. She does understand. She's endured abuse for now than two years. My situation is nowhere near as bad as hers. But that would explain why she didn't hit me back or leave me. Because she cares...